Using starch to make fabric murals on a wall

A while ago I posted about the tree I painted on the nursery wall inspired by this very talented ladies blog. I have been thinking that the tree is a little plain and I remembered this post from ohdeedoh and finally put 2 and 2 together and decided to use starch to add fabric foliage to the tree.

Materials

Fabric to attach to the wall
Scissors

1 can of spray starch or liquid starch

1 sponge, or I used a facewasher

Start by cutting the shapes you plan on attaching to the wall, I didn't bother edging them, once attached they don't seem to be prone to fraying.

Next make sure the wall is clean and dry, and the process for attaching them is really easy, first spray the starch on the wall, so it is damp.

Next place your fabric on the wall and smooth out, make sure it is all saturated. Remove any air bubbles it may have, though as it dry's I found a few returned.

Finally use the cloth or sponge to dab up any excess starch.

Once finished run your cloth or sponge under some water and clean up any starch marks. They dried in about 3 hours and they also just pull off.

Painting a tree

A couple of weeks ago I posted about my awe of the gorgeous mural Redmag painted in her nursery. I love the feel of this tree and can't get it out of my mind. Green with tree-envy I set out to recreate it in our nursery.

How to create a Tree Mural

Materials:
An image to paint
Data Projector or other means to 'get the image on the wall'
A pencil, I used a 2B, but with my time over would use a lighter one
An eraser
About 300ML of wall paint - I used a 500 ml tester tub Dulux Smooth Beech
A 5mm and 25mm paint brush
Masking tape
Drop sheets
A breathing mask for fumes if pregnant

Using a data-projector I traced the tree on the wall, there is something divinely devious drawing on a clean wall, it is one of life's untold pleasures to deliberately take a writing instrument to your walls, I highly recommend it.

It was difficult to get it to the right size, the room isn't wide enough for a large enough image straight on. But through some creative tracing and painful arranging of the projector eventually covered it all. I used a 2B pencil to trace it all, I worked left to right, starting at eye level. I soon found I was smudging it with my wrist though, so my time over I would use a lighter pencil than 2B and start at the top left, and try to work down and to the right.

I left it at this point and came back to it another day - your arms are very tired by this point!. I also embarked on a mammoth paint selecting mission. My wonderful Husband was barracking for a strong wood colour while I originally envisaged a neutral tone. After debate of this for some time and collecting every brown paint chip Bunnings had to offer we agreed on smooth beech, a soft tone as I desired and brown for him. I'm quite happy with it now.

Then on my 3rd trip to Bunnings, I left with not just paint chips - but paint! And brushes! I set the room up with old picnic blankets masquerading as drop sheets, masking tape on the skirting boards, a fan and all the windows open.

Then the painting began! Using the smaller brush I started at the top to avoid the smudging issue, I tried to keep my strokes long and even. I generally brushed in from the tips, but found brushing slowly outwards gave a lovely end to the branch. Generally the paint covered the pencil marks, but when it is properly dry I will attempt to wash/erase some marks left from where I went off the plan.

Finally I used the thicker brush to cover the trunk and thicker branches. I used the thin brush again to neaten the edges of the trunk and 'voila - A tree is born!'

I think I will thicken the trunk at the top, I still think the original is better, but I am quite pleased with it, plus it was fun to do!

Murals

When I was a little 80's child my bedroom had Grass-green carpet and 3 giant decals, I have no idea where my parents got them, but my word I loved them, and desperately wanted to find something similar. There was a Zebra which was about my height as a 5 year old, a Giraffe whose head popped above the top bunk and a tree. Unfortunately I can't find a photo of them to share, but trust me in my minds eye that room is cool.

I want to put those feelings into our children's space, but in a modern and stylish way. Wallies products are probably similar to what my parents used, and they do have a woodlands animal pack which is pretty. But neither know of an Australian supplier or feel right

having animals you never see outside a zoo here.

Googling will find endless examples of impressive professional murals like these, but suffer a combination of lack of skill and cash for such an investment. However my Googling did bring me to Redmag's excellent Blog Waiting in the Capital with this gorgeous mural she painted in her nursery. (Check out the adorable toys in her Etsy store, they are awesome.)